wbaradio

Kins, my wife agrees with you as she is wary of Sambo and feels that he would be very jealous if I got another Grey. Since I am not retired and sometimes traveling away from home, I better take the que from the wife and forget about adopting an additional Grey...... SAMBO RULES !

I'm considering adopting another CAG, which would be in additon to my CAG, Sambo. I am sure there has been a previous thread on the forum about the "issues and opportunities" in adding a second Grey to the flock. Can those who have added to their flock share the "pros & cons?" Thanks, Britt

I have had Sam aka Sambo for a number of years now having adopted him from a previous owner after 17 years. Sambo is a member of the family and has primarily bonded with me. When I stroke his beak, he regurgitates his food and will sit on my hand, squat low with his wings lowered and kinda sway back and forth. This is a frequent evening happening. We have a mating pair of cockatiels and it just occurred to me that Sambo's behaviour his quite similar to the femaile cockatiel when mating. The previous owner had told us that Sambo was a male though I do not think she had him tested to make the sex determination. I looked on the web and found the site for determining sex of the Grey and saw the different picturers of the underside of the tail with female Greys showing grey highlighting to the ends of the feathers and secondary retrices are greg rather than dark. Using these descriptive measures I checked out Sambo's tail feathers and they match the female description. So, it appears I have a Samantha rather than a Sambo..! Anyone else have further measures for determining sex of the Greys?

Kim, per my earlier posts.... try keeping Axel in his cage and only let him out when you come to the door. You might want to put a small cement perch on the inside of the door so that when Axel want to come out he goes to that perch and puts his foot (talon) up for you to open the door and put your hand hand out. When you do, don't just let him climb all over the cage. Take him and try to let him sit with you at a table where you can scratch his head or beak. I think he'll soon learn that seeing you means an opportunity to get out of the cage.

Shanlung, Having had Cockatiels and a Ringneck Parakeet, I'm amazed at what Sam, my CAG will eat and drink. He always gets his seed food as well as citrus fruit and raw veggies in the morning. He loves sliced, crisp apples, but when he sees me in the kitchen cooking up a cheese omlet in the morning, he goes into his yummy sound.. "Hummmmmm." and if I ignore him, he angrily rings his bell. So, he always gets a taste of what the family is having for dinner. He also likes Pizza. As for a little beer and wine, I'm with you, a little in moderation does no harm! It's not like I give him his own pint of Guinness! He just likes to get a few sips of whatever I'm drinking. By the way, those are some very nice pictures of your Cag and the Beach... very nice!

When I clean out Sam's cage, I stick my head all the way into the door and into the cage to wipe down the bottom areas where the paper pan slides in. Sam will come down from his perch to play or bite the sponge or sit on my shoulder. He's not that territorial about his cage, but I don't take him out unless he comes to his door perch and puts his foot up.

Hello Kim, I have a similar story, but a little different ending... and I think I know why. I adopted Sam when he was 17 years old. His previous owner had a couple of birds and several cats ( by the way, so do I). The owner had kept Sam and the other Amazon parrot in the kitchen in separate cages. During the day while the owner was gone, she closed off the kitchen and opened the cages to let them roam the kitchen... which they did and chewed up all the woodwork. She asked me and the wife if we'd like to take Sam as she no longer had the time to devote to him. After some thought we decided to give it a try. We went over to get Sam and she used an oven mit to get him out of the cage and into a small carry cage. He was a biter...! I brought him home and placed him in the Sunroom with our other Cockatiels. I didn't try to get him out of his cage for awhile, BUT I also didn't let him out of his cage to wonder around. I would sit in the Sunroom on my laptop computer with one or two Cockatiels on my shoulder and Sam would sit and watch me. After a couple of weeks, I tried getting him out with the oven mit and he bit down pretty hard. So, I was the one who fed and watered him and gave him treats, but I never let him out of the cage, until he would come to the cage door perch and put his foot up 'asking' me to take him out. This was the start of the mutual relationship, where I was the one who was in charge of "when" he could get out of the cage! He is now bonded to me, so that when I come into the room, he goes to the perch and puts his foot up to get out or get a treat. He also, now sits low on my hand and re-gurgitates food to me after I stroke his beak... True Parrot Love. Only problem, my wife and daughters are still scared of him...! So, my advice is to keep him in his cage until he asks you to get him out. Then if you get him out and he bites you, look at him sternly, and put him immediately back in the cage. Trust me, he'll get the message!

Sam loves flank steak medium rare, hamburger... I just don't have the heart to give him chicken, it's like cannibalism! However, he loves eggs, especially cheese omlets, and peanut butter on a Ritz cracker. Likes rice, both fried and white, but hates Chinese and Seafood.

I'll sit at the laptop computer with Sam on my knee or shoulder. He's always interested in what I have in my glass on the table. So, I let him sip out of my glass no matter what I'm having... sweet tea, Coca-Cola, or beer, but always in moderation! He's partial to Michelob Ultra Lite Amber....

Tarm, you are very correct.... DO NOT BUY A COLD MIST HUMIDIFIER .... PERIOD! Cold mist humidifiers build up bacteria and mold that will be sprayed into the air to infect you and your Grey! Only buy the hot mist humidifier that basically uses metal anodes to boil the water to produce steam and will kill bacteria or mold when it makes the steam. I'm glad to see this thread as it's very important during this cold Winter to get the humidity up in the room where your birds live. While seeing some Greys on YouTube, I noticed one very talented Grey who had lost so many feathers that it look rather pitiful. I also noticed during this Winter season that my Grey along with other Cockatiels in my Sunroom were starting to agressively pick and preen and were getting very dusty. So, I borrowed a 1.5 gallon hot mist humidifier for my Sunroom and fill it once in the morning and once at night to keep the steam pumping. It wasn't long before the dust subsided and the birds went back to normal preening routines. Don't forget to add a little salt to the water to get that steam pumping out in a good quantity.

Thanks for the posts...I also have a Indian Ring Neck and four Cockatiels, two Parakeets, and a Partridge in a Pear tree... well maybe not the Partridge. Anyway, Dave, I'll take your advice and I'll stick with what I've got. The cockatiels are mating pairs and their behaviour toward us humans did change once they paired up. The females are still pretty affecionate towards us, but the males are more protective/jealous over the females. I see your point about parrots being more "individualistic" and I don't want to chance any clashes with Sam, so I won't add another to the mix.

You introduce another younger CAG to your older CAG. I have Sam my 17 year old CAG and I was wondering what would happen if I acquired a young CAG (unknown sex)? Are there any general rules regarding introducing a new CAG with existing CAG? Will they bond and treat their humans differently?

Hello, I've recenlty adopted a 17 year old CAG, Sam. I believe the reason Coco nips your arm is because of feeling of instability on your arm. Sam did the same to me when I first got him. I have several other types of birds, that have never bitten me and I carry them everywhere. But, CAGs seem to be very sensitive to having a secure perch and sense of balance and stability. Your arm don't cut it! When carrying Coco around, use your hand with all fingers outstretched and STIFF for Coco to sit on. This makes for a steady perch. You can also use your shoulder, but move slooowly, and carefully when Coco is sitting on your shoulder.

So...It's AMORE, I thought so, just wanted confirmation! Guess I need to turn on a little Dean Martin on YouTube. Hopefully, he'll let me scratch his head pretty soon.

Sam our 17 year old, male CAG now enjoys coming to my office in the evening and sit on my shoulder while I'm on my laptop. I'll usually open a separate tab on my browser and play some doowop oldies on YouTube. Sam sings and whistles along with the music. Sam has loosened up quite a bit, but we're still hesitant to scratch his head. Tonite, while we're both sitting in front of the laptop listening to oldies, Sam walks from my shoulder down my arm to the top of my right hand. While I'm holding his table stand that's on my desk to support his weight, he gently takes my whole thumb in his beak and lift it to the side of his face. He then starts regurgitating his dinner,..first came a green pea, then rice augrautin. While He's doing this off and on for quite a few minutes, I also noticed his wings were stooped low and slightly outward and his red tail was wagging left to right. So, can any of you expert Grey owners tell what's up with this strange behaviour?<br><br>Post edited by: wbaradio, at: 2009/06/17 04:58

Sam has a wide variety of tastes for certain foods... See the photo gallery for one of his once a week treats!

I call it the "head bop." Morning and nite when I say good morning and good nite I bop my head up and down. When my Grey, Sam sees me do it, he bops his head in return. I think it Greys way of a happy acknowledgment.

I've read some posts of how Greys have put there heads down or rubbed their beak against their owners to have their head scratched. My wife and I scratch the heads of our cockatiels regularly, but we don't know when Sam puts his head down if he wants to be scratched or bite...! Sam is 17 years old and we've had him now for a few months after we adopted him. He's really come around, likes to get on my shoulder and walk around the house. There's a bell on a toy that hangs from the top of the cage of his perch. I've noticed that he'll sit and hit strike the bell and as the bell moves back and forth he sticks his head underneath so that the bell scratches across his head. Can some of you share your experience when your bird FIRST allowed you to scratch his head? Did he initiate or did you? What were the circumstances? My wife can wait to scratch our silver headed Sam...<br><br>Post edited by: wbaradio, at: 2009/06/12 23:19

Quick quick question for the forum members... Sam is our only Grey and we have several Cockatiels, a Budgie, and an Indian Rigneck Parakeet. Originally we just had the Cockatiels, who don't talk, but like to whistle tunes. I've taught them theme from "Bridge on the River Kwai (Col. Bogey March)" and "Clementine." When I next adopted the Blue Ringneck named Sky, she was placed in a cage next to the Cockatiels. Low and behold, she's whistling Bridge on the River Kwai and Clementine...no talking! I heard that certain birds tend to whistle rather than talk as it's easier. So, my question for the group, if I put Sam in close proximity to the other birds will he tend to whistle instead of talk or will he tend to listen to us more than other birds? I much rather he talk than whistle songs. Since they're Austrailian by origin, I figure next up for the Cockatiels is "Waltzing Matilda" Britt

Thanks for all the replies, It appears from the forum members' posts, I shouldn't be too concerned about Sam's serious nature. Sam will occasionally bop his bells hanging in the cage, but he is most interested in our family members. His previous owners use to keep him in the kitchen. When they got home from work, they would let him and his fellow conure out of the cage, close the kitchen doors, and let them roam the kitchen unsupervised while they watched TV in another room. The reason for the closed doors was due to their five cats that roamed the house. Sam and the conure took revenge in the kitchen by chewing up the kitchen wood moldings. Fortunately, my wife suggested we keep him in our breakfast nook in our open kitchen which is the "center" of our house where he sees everyone passing through or hanging out in the living room or sunroom. When no one is in the kitchen and out of sight, but he hears someone in another room, he begins his litany of vocal expressions to get our attention. This includes "hello," "uh-huh", micro-wave beep, etc. I hope I can get him to increase his vocabulary. We do have a very small table stand that came with Sam and we now can get him in and out of the cage without wearing the oven mit the previous owners gave us to place him on the stand. He seems to be doing his best to fit in, though we still haven't figured out his moods and body langquage. We use our other birds, cockatiels and indian ringneck parakeet, and pet and scratch them in from of him, so he'll learn to be less fearful. My wife can now stroke Sam's beak when he sticks it through the cage as he has seen her do the same to the ringneck. I'm going to try the toilet rolls as I've collected a few for use in my radio restoration activities. Britt wbaradio

We've had Sam the 17 year old Grey about a month and a half. We've put quite a few interesting toys and a nice swing in his large cage, but Sam seems content either sitting watching us in the kitchen or pacing and climbing around his cage. I thought Greys liked to play and chew on toys, but Sam doesn't seem very interested. Does age affect their playfulness? Is there anything I can do to stimulate his interest in playing with his toys?

Hello, I'm a new member to this board. I have several cockatiels which includes two breeding pairs, an adopted Indian Ringneck parakeet, and now an adopted Congo African Grey named Sam. Sam is approx. 17 years old and the former owners let him out of his cage for long periods of time in the kitchen where he knawed on every piece of wood he could find... guess he was bored. Anyway, he's 17 years old and kinda set in his ways. We have him and his old cage in the kitchen away from the other birds in the sunroom. He's been with us a week now but bites pretty hard when you try to get him to step up. He did this to his previous owners also. They used a "stup-up"oven mit whenever they moved him. He does talk alittle saying Hello when the telephone rings and "uh-huh" (short for yes when you're talking on the phone. He seems to be a nice bird who will acclamate. I've seen on the internet several ways to overcome fear in the birds to keep them from biting. Are there any proven practice/articles on this site to help with overcoming the birds fear and bite management? Thanks, Britt Chesapeake, VA